Rachel Morin’s death renews GOP demands for deportation of criminal illegal immigrants

Republicans are reiterating calls to empower local law enforcement to help the federal government deport illegal immigrants charged with crimes in the United States following the death of Maryland mother Rachel Morin.

From conservative lawmakers like Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) to House centrists including Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), Republicans have criticized President Joe Biden’s border policies in response to the death of Morin, who was killed while on a run on a Maryland hiking trail last year. Some Republicans, in response to police arresting a suspect from El Salvador this week, have explicitly used her death to claim that “more innocent Americans will die” if Biden is reelected.

The president has tacked to the right on immigration over the past month, but Republicans blame an influx in border crossings on his decision to reverse Trump-era policies upon assuming office.

“ANOTHER one of Crooked Joe Biden’s Illegal Immigrant Criminals was just charged with raping and murdering ANOTHER innocent American woman!” former President Donald Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

In an interview with Blackburn, Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler detailed the case of Morin’s death after running a monthslong investigation that led law enforcement to Victor Martinez-Hernandez, an illegal immigrant who had been caught and sent back across the border three times last year.

“We’re not unique. We’re not special in any way. This is happening across [the country],” Gahler told Blackburn on her Unmuted with Marsha podcast on Friday. “This is the problem that every community is seeing.”

Gahler then pointed to the death of Laken Riley, a nursing student who was allegedly murdered earlier this year by a Venezuelan immigrant arrested in 2022 on charges of illegally crossing the border but later released into the country. Republicans have argued that death, along with Morin’s, is a direct result of the Biden administration’s border policies, a sentiment Gahler echoed on the podcast.

“We know that when President [Joe] Biden came into office, he rescinded so many policies that were working. Just the words that were in effect were working and keeping the flow down,” Gahler said. “What’s coming across the border now are — sure, there’s families who are looking to make a better life for themselves. But there are cartels, trafficking, there are drugs flowing into our country. And there are criminals and probably terrorists coming across the border as well.”

Gahler’s comments come as Martinez-Hernandez is set to appear in court on Friday as a judge determines whether he should remain in jail without bond until his trial.

The deaths of Morin and Riley have reignited efforts to expand the authority of local law enforcement to take illegal immigrants into federal custody.

Blackburn introduced the Clear Law Enforcement for Criminal Alien Removal, or CLEAR, Act in March to give state and local law enforcement officials more tools to assist federal government agencies with deporting immigrants who are charged with crimes while in the United States.

“That’s the thing that I think is frustrating to people, is they feel like this is landed at the local law enforcement level, and that it is up to local law enforcement,” Blackburn said. “To attend to this, I have legislation, the CLEAR Act, which would require deportation of criminal illegal aliens and allow local law enforcement when they come into contact with someone who is in the country illegally, that’s committed some type of offense or crime, they can hold them and then require ICE to come pick them up, deport them, and then reimburse that local law enforcement agency.”

Gahler said he supports Blackburn’s legislation, noting that although immigration enforcement is largely the federal government’s responsibility, there should be mechanisms in place to allow for collaboration with local officials.

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Other GOP lawmakers have filed similar legislation, including Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC), who reintroduced a bill in March to strengthen the Department of Homeland Security’s authority to issue requests to local and state authorities to detain illegal immigrants who have committed a crime. That measure would permit local officials to hold the person for up to 48 hours to allow the DHS to take him or her into federal custody.

The bills come as Trump, who has leaned into hard-line rhetoric on immigration, makes the problem of migrant crime a central focus of his campaign for a second term in the White House.